


The Second Arson Charge

by RedheadedBlondeBitxh



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 07:15:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27169855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedheadedBlondeBitxh/pseuds/RedheadedBlondeBitxh
Summary: If Danse had a nickel for every time he was arrested for arson, he'd have two nickels....Which is not a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.
Relationships: Paladin Danse/Female Sole Survivor
Comments: 3
Kudos: 22





	The Second Arson Charge

Despite the thirteen years between the two incidents, Danse thought that the sensation of being thrown into the jail cell by Diamond City Security was remarkably identical to when he and Cutler had been arrested back in Rivet City. Except this time, it was on his own terms that he ended up on the wrong side of the law.

Traveling to Diamond City was always a gamble, considering there was a significant chance of running to some of his former Brotherhood colleagues, especially without Nora there to talk them out of whatever trouble they might encounter. But Shaun had been damn-near insistent about picking up a couple of old, rotary phones to scrap for gears, after already blowing through the dwindling supply left in Sanctuary.

Danse knew it was probably a bad idea, but given that Nora had grabbed Preston and high-tailed it toward the Boston Airport for negotiations with the Brotherhood of Steel two days before, both he and Shaun had been practically climbing the walls with boredom. There were only so many modifications that could be made to his firearms and Power Armor, after all.

At the very least, he should have been more attentive to Shaun as he bartered with Myrna, but by the time he had turned around the kid had scampered off and out of sight. The sudden vein of terror that raced through his chest at the possibility of _losing Nora_ _’s son_ in Diamond City had drove him half out of his mind with worry and he immediately rushed through the alleyways trying to find him.

It should not have been a surprise that Shaun had gotten himself into trouble, he was Nora’s child after all, and the trouble-making gene did not appear to have skipped a generation. But out of all the asinine things the boy could get into in the span of a few minutes, setting the schoolhouse on fire was almost impressive.

“Shaun, what do you think you’re doing?” He demanded, quickly pulling the wide-eyes child away from the pile of Boston Bugles that he had ignited.

“I didn’t mean to!” Shaun rushed, looking around them in a panic. “I was just trying to test if a magnifying glass actually could light something on fire -”

“You intentionally tried to ignite a pile of newspapers, knowing full and well that there was a high probability that your efforts would be successful.” Danse chastised, frowning as Shaun looked to the ground in shame. Taking a deep breath, he continued, as he turned back to the growing flames. “Go find Piper, I’ll take care of this.”

“I’m really sorry! Please don’t tell mom, she’ll be so mad at me.” Shaun begged, his eyes wide with worry as he watched Danse try to put the fire out with limited success.

“ _You_ are going to tell your mother about this. It’s important that you take responsibility, even, and _especially_ when, the consequences are less than desirable to you.” Danse instructed, though he knew that whatever ‘punishment’ Nora dolled out would be quite minor. To be fair, she would probably find the situation hilarious and only ground him as a lesson about the dangers of playing with fire.

“But -” Shaun interjected with a pout, his answer interrupted by the shout of the Diamond City security guard as they rounded the corner.

“Hey, what the hell are you doing back here?” The man demanded with a scowl.

“Shaun, go find your Aunt Piper.” Danse ordered, watching as the boy immediately rushed away, and turned back to the guard. “Sir, I assure you, this is all a misunderstanding. Is Sullivan working, I’m sure he can attest-”

The guard immediately grabbed his wrist, slapping a pair of handcuffs over it and reaching for his free hand. “Don’t fight it, you fucking fire bug, or you’ll regret it.”

Danse knew better than to argue the matter, though he was sure he could lay the man out in a matter of seconds. Beside, he figured that Piper would show up sooner or later to bail him out using whatever less than scrupulous intel she seemed to have droves of.

Except that he had been alone in the jail cell for nearly an hour with no sight of the duplicitous young woman. Just as he was beginning to consider the possibility that he would have to spend the entire night against the cool metal bench, he heard the familiar, gravely drawl of, quite personally, the last person he would want coming to his rescue.

“Well, Danse, I gotta say this is the last place I’d image seeing ya. Though I do appreciate the irony here.” Nick offered, taking a long drag from his cigarette as he leaned against the door frame.

“Valentine.”

“So how’d you get wrapped up on the wrong side of the law?” The detective pressed, nodding toward the handcuffs still around his wrists.

“It would seem that there was a slight... misunderstanding regarding the flammability of some old news articles outside the school house.” Danse admitted with a frown, not wanting to throw Shaun under the metaphorical bus.

“Yeah, that’s what I heard. Quite frankly, you’re probably lucky it was me who saw Shaun running around instead of Piper. She’d wring your neck for letting the kid set fire to priceless periodicals.” The synth teased, stubbing out his cigarette in the ashtray on the desk.

“Are you quite done, or did you just come here to gloat?” Danse bit out, his patience, much like the tender skin pressed against the cold metal bracelets, wearing thin.

“Eh, a little bit of both.” Nick answered with a smirk, pulling a key ring from his pocket with a sigh. “S’Pose I oughta let ya out before Nora finds out you’re stuck in here. I’m not particularly keen to see here tear through the entirety of Diamond City’s security team.”

“Indeed.” He agreed, letting out a relieved breath as the detective opened the door and undid the handcuffs seamlessly.

Nick quickly slipped the ring of keys back into his pocket, nodding to the door as he started for the entrance, Danse following silently behind.

Almost as soon as they passed the threshold, Shaun ran up to him, his eyes wide and wet as he threw his arms around Danse’s waist. “I’m sorry I got you in trouble, I-”

“It’s okay.” Danse promised as he moved to pull the child into a hug. “Better I get in trouble here than you.”

Shaun buried his face in the fabric of his shirt with a sniffle. “I’m so sorry, Dad.”

“I know you are... Just be sure to use caution in the future.” He assured, ruffling his hair with a smirk. “Did we learn something?”

“Yeah.” Shaun admitted as he looked up at him, his face filling with relief. “I guess now we really gotta tell mom what happened.”

Danse could feel a faint chuckle building in the back of his throat. “That is an understatement... Now, how about we grab some noodles before we head back home?”

At his offer, Shaun nodded with soft sigh. “Okay... Dad? I love you.”

“I love you too, Shaun.” He replied, moving to lead them to Takahashi’s with a laugh. “Maybe we _don’t_ have to tell your mother about this.”


End file.
